Zhang Feng, a 23-year-old man from Zhengzhou, China, has apparently mastered a unique kung-fu technique he calls “Shaolin Sunshine Hand”, which allows him to generate enough energy with his fists to put out candles up to three meters away. This you gotta see!

Remember those cheesy Chinese kung-fu films we all used to watch during the 80s and 90s? I used to love seeing kung-fu masters blowing stuff and enemies away with their punches, but I kind of always knew it was just theatrics. After looking at this video that recently went viral in China, showing a nerdy dude throwing punches at a row of 15 candles and extinguishing them with air or energy generated by his flying fists, I’m not so sure anymore. I know, you’re convinced it’s a fake, and you’re not the only one, but the guy actually invited a couple of reporters from the Zhengzhou Evening News newspaper into his home to try the feat themselves and then film him doing it. The two journalists gave it their best shot, but were only able to put out one of the 15 candles set 10 cm apart, and even blowing air didn’t kill all the flames. Zhang Feng, on the other hand, put them all out just by throwing punches. Needless to say the reporters were in awe and couldn’t explain how he did it. If they were in on the trick, shame on them, but maybe there is something to this uncanny Shaolin master.

Feng says he has been practicing the art of air punching for the last eight years, after doing some online research. He found that the form of “Shaolin Sunshine Hand” was the easiest one among the 72 Matchless Skills of Shaolin, so he started practicing it. At first, he only managed to put out candles just 3 cm away, but as time passed and his skills improved, he was able to extinguish a flame up to 3 meters away. But during these 8 years of training he used up more candles and lighters than he can remember, and at one point his family got so worried about his obsession that they forbade him from practicing. He continued to do it in secret, and although his family didn’t support his efforts, they stopped opposing him after a while, as long as he didn’t injure himself or set the house on fire.

He did sprain his joints multiple times, but he never gave up. He just waited until his arms were better and started punching air again. But it’s not all in the fists, the spectacled Chinese says. He does a series of qigong exercises in order to balance his chi before every attempt, and says breathing plays an important role, as well. I used Google Translate to get some info from the original article, but it wasn’t very clear. He says something about his lung capacity being limited and only being able to throw four punches in rapid succession. You can check it out for yourself, maybe you can get something more out of it.

Anyway, the video speaks for itself. You can watch the reporters try to put out the candles themselves or scroll to the final part where Zhang Feng extinguishes the 15 candles with his Shaolin Sunshine Hand, and then a single candle 3 meters away. One source says the reporters asked him to do his magic one more time, but his energy was spent, and he was only able to put out the first three candles. The Zhengzhou Evening News reports that after the first attempt, Zhang Feng was exhausted, drinking a whole bottle of water and sitting down on the sofa to rest. It seems this kung-fu stuff really takes it out of you.